I've been coming to this space to jot down the tidbits of my daily life, the beauty of my surroundings, my family for years. Yesterday was my seven year blog anniversary. I wonder what the present is for this kind of anniversary? Probably some kind of mid-century furniture, right? Or, a cute pair of shoes? No worries, I'll figure it out.
My interests have been shared here. They have morphed and changed throughout the years.
Here are a few that mean the most to me:
:: My love of books and the written word.
:: The pastoral and small town we live in.
:: My homestead experiments (ahem).
:: My daily adventures with this one.
:: Our little funky farmhouse.
:: Daily art-making at the kitchen table.
:: Entertaining friends and family here.
:: My guys.
Scrolling through older blog posts yesterday, I came across this post with a video of Grady playing the guitar and singing about his favorite thing at the time :: Dogs. Labrador retrievers, in particular. It made me laugh and then it made me cry. He was only four years old at the time.
If I'm being honest, it has been a challenge to write the day-to-day story of my life. It's often I capture and record only the good stuff, as that helps buoy me out of a rough patch. But there are plenty of not-so-pretty moments happening around here, too. This blog helps me out of those dark holes and catapults me into the next moment where I can either gracefully slip into the groove or walk in all uncoordinated and clumsy. Either way, it always get better. And that is what I've gleaned from all of the years of writing and sharing my thoughts here. It's why I will continue to do so, even if it's only sporadically that the mood and energy strikes.
I used to struggle with photography and technology here in this space. There are so many small, off-centered, fuzzy pictures in the early years of this blog. I thought about deleting them, but decided I couldn't. They document my wobbly past, too. I used to get up late at night (between 2 am and 6 am) to edit photos and upload images to my blog. Living in the country is charming, but our internet bandwidth is minuscule. We had wide open privileges in the middle of the night and I would wake up wanting to write and work on images for this space.
I'm grateful that I have taken the time over the past seven years to photograph my home, nature, things that inspire me, people I love. In doing so, I'm always trying to find the beauty in every day. Sometimes I fail, but mostly this little blog has helped me navigate my way through motherhood and being a wife, daughter, sister and friend. It catalogs all of the different times I've tried something new and helps me feel like I can hold onto the past a little while longer.
The connections I've made along the way have been the added little bonus. I've made real friendships with women from all across the country - most I've never met. It might sound weird to some, but connecting with like-minded women through social media has been the biggest surprise to me at this stage in my life. The sharing of information and positive encouragement has lifted me up out of more than a few dark times.
For the past five+ years I've started every single day checking in with the beautiful blogs of Amanda, Nici, Kelle & Gabrielle. I read their blogs religiously. They've all given me inspiration in one form or another - motherhood know-how, a little touch of the rural life & DIY endeavors that I like to dabble in. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, ladies.
List-making and documenting make me feel more in control. As a mom to an only child, I'm constantly trying to grasp for a way to record Grady's childhood. Realistically, I know I can't really do that for all things, but I need to try to capture a little bit of it. For me. For him.
I'm currently struggling with the fact that I'm unsure if I should continue write about him in this space. He's just entered middle school and the rules have suddenly changed. Is this my story to tell? Or is it his? More on that in another post.
As always, I'm figuring it out along the way.
I haven't felt like writing lately, but I wanted to at least mark this occasion by acknowledging the power of putting my thoughts and images here in this little space of mine. Thank you for reading and following along in this journey.
I guess my blog anniversary present was a new web address. Find me here:
www.tammisalas.com
Happy, happy.
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